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When Could You Claim For A Broken Bone Birth Injury?
Broken Bone Birth Injury Compensation Claims Guide
This guide explains when you could claim compensation for a broken bone birth injury, whether the mother or the baby suffered it. We outline what criteria you need to meet to make a medical negligence claim and explore the time limits around making one.
Moreover, our guide discusses how a broken bone birth injury could occur and in what circumstances this would constitute negligence, in addition, to highlighting the standard of care that is expected of medical professionals.
Our guide also looks at the difference between the types of compensation you could be eligible to claim for and how proof of these losses will help you claim for them. Our guide also provides a table of compensation guidelines to visually depict these amounts.
Furthermore, we explain how a No Win No Fee agreement works if you are offered such an arrangement by a solicitor. If you would like more information, please continue reading.
Comparatively, you can contact an advisor from our team who can provide guidance about starting a medical negligence claim. To reach us, please use your preferred method of contact listed below:
- Call us on 0800 073 8804
- Complete our online form to contact us
- Refer to our live support feature to chat with us
Choose A Section
- When Could You Claim For A Broken Bone Birth Injury?
- What Could Cause A Broken Bone Birth Injury?
- Evidence To Support A Broken Bone Birth Injury Claim
- What Is The Average Birth Injury Settlement In The UK?
- Why Choose Legal Expert For No Win No Fee Birth Injury Claims?
- Further Birth Injury Claims
When Could You Claim For A Broken Bone Birth Injury?
For you to have grounds to make a medical negligence claim, harm must have resulted from a breach of duty. You will need to prove the following:
- The medical professional treating you owed you a duty of care.
- They failed to provide the correct standard of care when treating you, causing a breach of duty.
- This breach led to the avoidable harm that you or your baby suffered.
Medical professionals are required to deliver a standard of care that is correct. If they fail to do so and this causes harm, you could be eligible to claim. If your child suffered the injury, there are ways that a claim could be made, and this is covered in the next section.
Time Limits In Medical Negligence Claims
The Limitation Act 1980 outlines that, as a general rule, you will have three years from the harm or from the date you became aware of the negligence involved in the harm you suffered.
There are exceptions to this time limit. If your child suffered the injury, the time limit can be suspended in these circumstances, and they will have three years from their eighteenth birthday to start a claim.
Similarly, the time limit is paused if a person lacks the mental capacity to make a claim. The limit will resume if they become mentally capable of starting a claim.
These exceptions exist if a litigation friend has not already made a claim on behalf of the individual. If your child was the one who suffered the injury, you could claim on their behalf.
What Could Cause A Broken Bone Birth Injury?
To make a valid broken bone birth injury claim, it must be proven that negligence is the cause of the injury. There are instances where broken bones can occur, but these would not constitute negligence. For example, a baby’s shoulder may need to be broken or dislocated to deliver them as quickly as possible. This would not be grounds for a medical negligence claim.
There are some occasions which would allow you to make a claim for the injuries you have suffered, and these are listed below:
- Midwife negligence could give grounds to claim. This can occur if a midwife fails to identify that the baby is in a breach position, and as the baby is delivering, one leg gets stuck. During the delivery process, the baby’s leg is broken.
- A birth injury to the mother, such as a fractured pelvis or hip, could result from the incorrect use of birthing tools.
- There could be a failure to diagnose a medical condition in the baby, such as Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI). When the baby is delivered, it causes several bone fractures.
The medical professional treating you must be negligent in their delivery of care for you to make a medical negligence claim for the harm you suffered.
Evidence To Support A Broken Bone Birth Injury Claim
If you want to pursue a medical negligence claim, you must provide proof. This can consist of:
- Hospital reports.
- Doctor reports.
- In-depth reports from an independent medical appointment.
- Treatment plan.
- Prescriptions.
To add to this evidence, the Bolam test may also be applied to your claim. This involves an evaluation by a panel of other medical professionals who have been appropriately trained to judge the care you received. If they agree that the care you received was not up to the correct standard expected of medical professionals, this assessment will support your claim.
What Is The Average Birth Injury Settlement In The UK?
Your compensation is likely to be divided into two types. One of these is general damages. These cover the suffering you have endured due to the harm you experienced.
When valuing the harm, solicitors and other legal professionals could refer to the Judicial College Guidelines for assistance, as this contains compensation brackets for various injuries.
The table below displays these compensation guidelines to offer a better understanding of the values. However, these are not definite representations, and the payout you receive could differ from these.
Compensation Guidelines
| Injury | Severity | Notes | Compensation Guidelines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pelvis and Hips | Severe (a) (i) | Extensive fractures of the pelvis involving dislocation of a low back joint. | £78,400 to £130,930 |
| Pelvis and Hips | Moderate (b) (i) | Significant injury causing permanent disability but it is not major. | £26,590 to £39,170 |
| Clavicle | Fracture of Clavicle | The award will depend on the level of disability whether temporary or permanent, and if the union is displaced. | £5,150 to £12,240 |
| Arm | Permanent and Substantial (b) | One or both forearms are seriously fractured and there is permanent residual disability. | £39,170 to £59,860 |
| Shoulder | Severe (a) | Damage to the brachial plexus causing significant disabilities. | £19,200 to £48,030 |
| Shoulder | Serious (b) | The shoulder is dislocated and there is damage to the lower brachial plexus. | £12,770 to £19,200 |
Are Special Damages Awarded In Birth Injury Claims?
Special damages are the other kind of compensation you could receive. These aim to restore you to the financial place you were in before the harm by reimbursing you for the expenses you incurred due to this.
Expenses concerning transportation, home adaptations, or a reduction of earnings due to the harm can be compensated if you are eligible to claim.
Evidence will help to support your claim for these losses and can be things like payslips to show the impact on your earnings. Additionally, bank statements and invoices can show the purchases of the adjustments you have made in your home environment.
Furthermore, relevant documentation of travel costs, such as public transport tickets, can help prove how transportation has been an expense resulting from the harm.
Why Choose Legal Expert For No Win No Fee Birth Injury Claims?
After a broken bone birth injury, you may wish to work with a solicitor, who could propose to work on a No Win No Fee basis. They may offer a Conditional Fee Agreement which is a popular type.
With this agreement, if your claim is unsuccessful, your solicitor will not charge you for their services. Comparatively, if your claim is successful, a success fee will be taken by your solicitor.
A success fee is an amount of your award that your solicitor deducts. This is restricted by the Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013, which legally caps the percentage solicitors can take as their fee.
Please speak to one of our advisors for more information on No Win No Fee birth injury claims.
Contact Us
You can contact our team if you have any questions about your broken bone birth injury. An advisor can offer a free consultation and provide you with legal advice. To reach someone from our team, please use the following methods:
- Call us on 0800 073 8804
- Claim online by completing our form
- Use our live feature to start a chat with an advisor
Further Birth Injury Claims
Thank you for reading our guide on when you could claim for a broken bone birth injury. For more of our guides, please visit the pages linked below:
- Unnecessary Surgery Compensation Claims
- Retained Placenta Medical Negligence Compensation
- How To Make A Claim Against The NHS
- Learn how to claim for a tummy tuck gone wrong with our helpful guide.
For external resources, please feel free to explore the listed sites:
- The NHS Consultation For England – Government Guidance
- Ecotopic Pregnancy – NHS
- Stillbirth– NHS
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